Spring Fishing w/pics & vid

Scout'nStripers

Senior Member
I haven't posted in a while but fishing has been very good this spring. After taking a few months off for recovery from shoulder surgery I started making a few trips to Lake Oconee in prep for the FLW Bulldog series in early March. For a guy who's home lake is Lake Lanier, Lake Oconee can be quite a challenge. I learned that right away. I got to fish for a couple days before the tournament and figure a few things out so I wasn't totally in the dark. On tournament day I wound up with 4 fish and finished 56 out of 150+ boats so I considered that a success. It could have been a lot worse but I was glad to get back to Lanier.

The bass bite on Lanier has just been getting better and better over the last few weeks and right now it is great. I was out yesterday afternoon and chatted with a few bass fishermen and every one I talked to said the shakey head bite was boss. Everyone seems to be throwing the shakey head and getting fish so I decided to throw the crankbait. LOL

Actually, we're getting very close to the threadfin shad spawn so a shad pattern crankbait is your best bet if you want to crank. Our shad population usually starts to get their groove on when the water temps are somewhere close to 70 degrees and we're getting very close to that right now. If you go back a few years on my YouTube page you'll see some videos in the spring where I talk about the shad spawn and catching bass very shallow with shad cranks.

Last week I got a chance to go out with Lanier Jim, the "Drop Shot Jedi Master" and we did a little dropping and crankbaiting. The last time I went out with LJ a couple years ago he put it on me with the drop shot so I've been waiting for an opportunity for a little redemption. I got it last week when I smoked him with my little shad crank. He was dropping and I was cranking and the final tally was crankbait 20+ and drop shot 7-8. Redemption complete. Here's a few of my favorite pics from the last month and a video from yesterday when I was cranking the rocks on Lanier for a good limit of bass.

The first 2 pics were Largemouth from Oconee and the rest are recent cranking bass from Lanier. The video below was from yesterday afternoon, cranking on Lanier.
 

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Burton

Senior Member
Nice catch and thanks for sharing. This is truly a great time of year to fish. I took my dad out Friday and we caught 35 bass - fishing ned rigs in 20 mph wind on a small lake in SC. It's good to see someone share the detail that you do.
 

Scout'nStripers

Senior Member
Nice catch and thanks for sharing. This is truly a great time of year to fish. I took my dad out Friday and we caught 35 bass - fishing ned rigs in 20 mph wind on a small lake in SC. It's good to see someone share the detail that you do.
Thanks for the kind words Burton. I just can't see keeping this kind of fun all to myself. Sounds like y'all have been having fun with those ned rigs. I need to give them a try.
 

Burton

Senior Member
I like a 1/15 green pumpkin with TRD green pumpkin on 8 lb line. Clear water on Keowee or dingy water on Lake Secession in SC...it's working right now. Big fish Friday was 3 lbs and a few 2-2.5. It's not a big fish bait, but it's a fun bait. Give it a try.
 

Cletus T.

Senior Member
Good job Jim…….congrats on the catches and yes, thanks for sharing the info with us too!!!!

I drive by Lanier everyday wishing I was out there, and every now and then I’ll stop in the morning for a little bank fishing. Lanier is a special fishery!!!
 

Scout'nStripers

Senior Member
Good job Jim…….congrats on the catches and yes, thanks for sharing the info with us too!!!!

I drive by Lanier everyday wishing I was out there, and every now and then I’ll stop in the morning for a little bank fishing. Lanier is a special fishery!!!
Thanks Cletus. Lanier is special for sure. I saw you caught that stripe last week on the morning hustle. You better get that Whopper Plopper ready, it's fixin to be on!:yeah:
 

creation's_cause

Senior Member
I really enjoyed your video and the details yo u shared...as another poster stated. Weighing them on video and line selection would be great info as well. Some of us are just never satisfied. But, really, awesome video...thanks for posting!!!!:clap:
 

Scout'nStripers

Senior Member
I really enjoyed your video and the details yo u shared...as another poster stated. Weighing them on video and line selection would be great info as well. Some of us are just never satisfied. But, really, awesome video...thanks for posting!!!!:clap:
Thanks for the kind words. Line selection was 7lb fluorocarbon and here's a close-up of the cranks I made for the occasion.
 

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Scout'nStripers

Senior Member
Those look great! If I had to guess, the fish were in less than 10ft?
Some were in less than 10ft but some hit very close to the boat. That's not to say that the fish didn't follow the crank from the shallows to the boat and hit it at the boat but I tried to keep the boat in at least 20 feet of water.
 

Coenen

Senior Member
Some of the backs of the creeks are pretty heavily stained, I had good luck over the weekend with a chartreuse and white spinner bait.
 

Lanier Jim

Senior Member
Lol...this is true folks....Jim waxed me good with that crankbait of his....my rearend is still shining from the wax job. Great report Jim and I'm ready for you next trip. I've already put the Turtle Wax in the boat to shine you up :)

Fishing is good and getting better daily. Jim and I planned to hit the water tomorrow but with the weather moving in - we postponed. Boy, we did have some laughs and fun - LJ
 

Scout'nStripers

Senior Member
Lol...this is true folks....Jim waxed me good with that crankbait of his....my rearend is still shining from the wax job. Great report Jim and I'm ready for you next trip. I've already put the Turtle Wax in the boat to shine you up :)

Fishing is good and getting better daily. Jim and I planned to hit the water tomorrow but with the weather moving in - we postponed. Boy, we did have some laughs and fun - LJ
Man LJ, I wish we could hit the water tomorrow but it looks pretty rough weather wise. It was a blast last week. I don't think I've laughed that much in years. I have a feeling when summer gets here your going to beat me down on the drop shot and thanks for putting me on those rocky points and fish! Looking forward to next week.:cheers:
 
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